This blog is essentially my online Curriculum Vitae. My stories have mostly appeared in Canadian magazines.

May 02, 2011

Digging Jane Jacobs' activist roots in Manhattan for up! magazine

WHEN IT WAS published a couple of years ago, I couldn't wait to get my mitts on Anthony Flint's "Wrestling With Moses." The American author's lean chronicle of the epic mid-20th Century battles over public space that unearthed urban design pillar Jane Jacobs and buried NYC master builder Robert Moses is one the most vivid and enthralling pieces of historical non-fiction I've ever read (not that I've read a boatload). Once hooked, I was lucky enough to get to write (in mere fractional detail) about the walkable legacy of their face-off over the fate of Washington Square Park and SoHo. I highly recommend treating my piece as the primer it was intended to be (for WestJet's in-flight magazine) and actually go hang out in lower Manhattan with Flint's book under your arm.